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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Mindfulness

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Dr Ian Ellis-Jones of Melbourne, shares some of his favourite quotations that
pertain, directly or indirectly, to Mindfulness and/or Mindfulness
Meditation ... as well as to such matters as calmness of mind, silence,
tranquility and equanimity:

Let's begin with Webster's Dictionary, which defines
mindfulness as "the trait of staying aware (paying close attention to)
your responsibilities and/or being present in the moment." Not a
bad start ... for a dictionary definition.

Now,
let's consider the views of some leading contemporary Theravāda Buddhist authorities. Nyanaponika Thera defines, orperhaps more accurately describes, Mindfulness as “a kind of
attentiveness that … is good, skilful or right (kusala)”. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi Mindfulness is “focused
awareness applied to immediate experience in both its subjective and objective
factors”. Thānissaro Bhikkhu sees Mindfulness as “the ability to keep
something in mind”. Finally, in the words of Ñāṇavīra Thera Mindfulness is “general recollectedness, not being
scatterbrained,” and he links it with “reflexion”, that is, knowing what one
knows or does as one knows or does it.

J. Krishnamurti used to point out that Mindfulness is a lifelong inquiry
into what it means to be present, and to stay present, in
the present moment ... with choiceless awareness and bare
attention ... and with curiosity (but not credulity). Krishnamurti
said, "Learning is movement from moment to moment."

I also love the simplicity of Jon Kabat-Zinn's definition, or rather description, of Mindfulness:
"Paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment,
and non-judgementally." ("Falling awake," he calls it!) Ditto,
from Ruth Lerman: "Mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose, to
what’s happening in the present moment without judgment."

Mindfulness is the direct perception of "what is". It is not
so much a "system" per se ... thank goodness ... but, in the
words of Jack Kornfield, it is "a systematic training and awakening
of body, heart, and mind that is integrated with the world around us". Thich
Nhat Hanh writes that to live mindfully is "to keep our appointment
with life". Great stuff!

One of the best books - if not the best book - ever written on the
subject of meditation is The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by the above mentioned Nyanaponika
Thera. In the introduction to the book the author states what I also have
found to be true in practice, namely that Mindfulness "provides the most
simple and direct, the most thorough and effective, method for training and
developing the mind for its daily tasks and problems".

The Nature of Mindfulness and Mindfulness
Meditation

“You cannot buy Mindfulness in a grocery store, it must be generated from
within yourself.” - Thich Nhat Hahn.

"Why should we observe or watch physical and mental processes as they are?
Because we want to realise their true nature. The teaching of the Buddha leads
us to the right understanding of natural processes as just natural process. ...
When our body feels hot, we should observe that feeling of heat as it is. When
the body feels cold, we should observe it as cold. When we feel pain, we should
observe it as it is - pain. When we feel happy, we should watch that happiness
as it is - as happiness. When we feel angry, we should observe that anger as it
really is - as anger. When we feel sorry, we should be mindful of it as it is -
as sorry. When we feel sad or disappointed, then we must be aware of our
emotional state of sadness or disappointment as it is." - Sayadaw U
Janakabhivamsa.

"Those who are awake
live in a state of constant amazement." - Shakyamuni
Buddha.

"To meditate is to listen with a receptive
heart." - Shakyamuni Buddha.

"When you want ... to understand somebody,
something that someone is saying, what is the state of your mind? You are not
analysing, not criticizing, judging what the other is saying; you are
listening, ar you not? Your mind is in a state where the thought process is not
active, but is very alert. Yes? And that alertness is not of time, is it? You
are merely being alert, passively receptive, and yet fully aware; and it is
only in this state that there is understanding. Surely, when the mind is
agitated, questioning, worrying, dissecting, analysing, there is no
understanding. And when there is the intensity to understand, the mind is
obviously tranquil. This, of course, you have to experiment with, not take my
word for it." - J. Krishnamurti.

"[Mindulness]
is the cultivation of awareness, bringing the attention to the moment over and
over until there is a constant consciousness. This awareness [is] without
comment, without discrimination, without judgment ... ." - Steven
Harrison.

“Mindfulness
is deliberately paying full attention to what is happening around you—in your
body, heart and mind. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgment.”
- Jan Chozen Bays.

“Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than
asleep. Relaxation is more of a side effect. Mindfulness is about being in
the present, taking things one moment at a time and being aware of whatever
arises – not creating a pleasant experience.” - Shamash Alidina.

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in
the present moment, and nonjudgmentally … When we commit ourselves to paying
attention in an open way, without falling prey to our own likes and dislikes,
opinions and prejudices, projections and expectations, new possibilities open
up and we have a chance to free ourselves from the straitjacket of
unconsciousness.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn.

"Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on
all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing
forth deep insight and awakening." - Thich Nhat Hanh.

"Mindfulness refers to keeping one's
consciousness alive to the present reality. It is the miracle by which we
master and restore ourselves." - Thich Nhat Hanh.

"Mindfulness
is a state in which one is open to creating categories, open to new
information, and being aware of more than one perspective. Mindlessness is
being prematurely bound to a perspective when in a particular situation and
then acting from that particular mindest." - Ellen Langer.

"To be mindful is to be fully in the present
moment." - William Alexander.

"Mindfulness is simply
being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different;
enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being
with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it
won’t).” - James Baraz.

"Mindfulness, then, is the unfailing master
key for knowing the mind, and is thus the starting point; the perfect
tool for shaping the mind, and is thus the focal point; the lofty
manifestation of the achieved freedom of the mind, and is thus the
culminating point." - Nyanaponika Thera.

“Some people do not know the difference between
mindfulness and concentration. They concentrate on what they're doing, thinking
that is being mindful. ... We can concentrate on what we are doing, but if we
are not mindful at the same time, with the ability to reflect on the moment,
then if somebody interferes with our concentration, we may blow up, get carried
away by anger at being frustrated. If we are mindful, we are aware of the
tendency to first concentrate and then to feel anger when something interferes
with that concentration. With mindfulness we can concentrate when it is
appropriate to do so and not concentrate when it is appropriate not to do so.”
- Ajahn Sumedho.

"[Mindfulness] is not
concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to
theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for excising the tumor of
metaphysical belief." - Stephen
Batchelor.

“The practice of mindfulness begins in the small,
remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your
conscious life, reaching far beyond the people and places you can see.” - Earon Davis.

“Use each experience you
encounter to awaken, and enlighten yourself. This is the key.” - Shinjo Ito.

"You have to remember
one life, one death–this one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment
whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or
outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness
we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of
our inherent luminosity." - Stephen
Levine.

"No technique, no communication skill or
psychological process can come anywhere close to the effectiveness of being
100% present. It is not an easy thing to do." - Danaan Parry.

"...it is often more
difficult to remember to be mindful than to be mindful itself.” - Donald Rothberg.

“If you are doing
mindfulness meditation, you are doing it with your ability to attend to the
moment.” - Daniel Goleman.

“The letting go or
acceptance of your experience and state of mind as it is, is always the act of
living completely and perfectly in this moment. For we have noted that ego
consciousness is a bondage of time, being essentially a complex of memories and
anticipations. All egocentric action has an eye to the past or the future; in the
strict present the ego does not exist. This is easier to prove by experiment
rather than theory, for in concentrating simply and solely upon what is
happening at this moment, anticipation and anxiety vanish. ... Many masters of
the spiritual life have therefore laid especial value upon the exercise of
living and thinking simply in this moment, letting the past and the future drop
out of the mind; for the ego drops away with them, together with its pride in
the past and its fear and greed for the future." - Alan Watts.

"In what is seen there must be just the seen;
in what is heard there must be just the heard; in what is sensed (a small,
taste or touch) there must be just what is sensed; in what is thought there
must be just the thought." - Udana I, 10 (trans by Nyanaponika
Thera).

"The present moment is
filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it." - Thich Nhat Hanh.

"Nothing is as important as this day." - Goethe.

"Few of us ever live
in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what
has gone." - Louis L’Amour.

"Like a child standing
in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight, there's no need to imagine trees,
flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what
is already here, who we already are - as soon as we stop pretending we're small
or unholy." - Bo Lozoff.

“I exist as I am – that is
enough;

If no other in the world be
aware, I sit content.” - Walt Whitman.

“The habit of ignoring our present moments in favor
of others yet to come leads directly to a pervasive lack of awareness of the
web of life in which we are embedded. This includes a lack of awareness and
understanding of our own mind and how it influences our perceptions and our
actions. It severely limits our perspective on what it means to be a person and
how we are connected to each other and the world around us. Religion has
traditionally been the domain of such fundamental inquiries within a spiritual
framework, but mindfulness has little to do with religion, except in the most
fundamental meaning of the word, as an attempt to appreciate the deep mystery
of being alive and to acknowledge being vitally connected to all that exists.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn.

"Thought has no future. When thought projects
itself away from the present, the future is created." - J. Krishnamurti.

"The moment we want to be something we are no
longer free." - J. Krishnamurti.

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